Hi
I have been offered a fantastic job abroad and want to rent out my property. I have shared ownership - 75%
Am I allowed to rent it out? Someone suggested writing to my lender but as it is shared ownership I fear they will say no. This is my retirement fund and don't want to sell.

The shared ownership scheme is nothing to do with your lender and your shared ownership agreement will detail what you can and cannot do so dig it out and read it !!!

The lender should also be asked for consent to let and the response you get will be very mixed from a downright no to a yes with no change in terms but as a general response they say yes with the following proviso's:

1) No DSS tenants
2) Landlords insurance taken out
3) Increase in interest rate and/or admin fee
4) Agreement for a limited time period followed by a review

The easy way is to buy a property with a normal mortgage, live in it yourself, and rent a couple of rooms, under the rent a room scheme for a year or so until you have enough money to get a BTL. My son did this for two years, then informed the mortgage company he wanted to turn it into BTL which they were happy to do. He then went and bought another house for himself and did the same thing again. He did inform his insurance company what he was doing and they did charge him slightly more, but not much.

I take it you mean you have an ordinary, buying-my-primary-and-private-home mortgage and want to rent it out...

Well you can rent it out without telling the lender.. (you can speed down the M62 at 120mph...) but chances are the lender will find out & either charge you a lot more for not telling them or alternatively repossessing it ..

Given you are thinking of not telling the lender who else were you planning not to tell - HMRC & fiddle your tax?? Insurers - that'll be interesting when the place burns down & they don't pay up?? - EPC - not bothering?? Gas safety cert- no bothering??

Decent landlords don't need that sort of behaviour to give landlords in general a bad name...

A bit radical I know, but a wee suggestion - have you tried being honest & above board??? And maybe get a mortgage adviser who knows what he's talking about (that one can be a bit tough, I know..)

Best advice is read through documents and speak to your lender! As long as they're still getting their money they'll probably let you do it. My mortgage wasn't shared ownership, but when I decided to rent out my flat and move I was honest and told the bank straight away. They charged me £100 and converted my mortgage to BTL and I didn't have to changed my interest rate or anything.

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